“What a shitty life,” he muttered, tromping through the brush. “How can you live like that?”
“How can you make so much noise?”
We walked at a slow, measured pace. Emberflies dotted the way, occasionally going dark as they drifted behind trees, only to lazily pop out again.
“Have you noticed the emberflies kinda seem like they are keeping pace with us?” I murmured, not really caring if he heard or if he answered. “We’re not really passing them. They seem to be moving with us as a horde. Usually they kinda drift on their own. I wonder what the deal is.”
“They are keeping pace, yeah. It’s fucking annoying. It’s messing up my vision.“
“How so?”
“My eyes keep trying to adjust to their light, as feeble as it is, and it’s harder to see in the dark. It feels like I’m not able to peer through the shadows.”
“My lantern can’t be helping either, then.”
“I can kinda... shield that a bit, but the bugs are everywhere.”
“They have a name. Ember?—“
“I don’t give a shit. They’re bugs. We need a bunch of birds to swoop down and eat the fucking things.”
“I wish they had stingers,” I muttered, “and an inclination to use them on you.”
Onward we went, creeping almost. I walked at random, willing a flower to make itself known. The foliage was thick here, though, dense. Heavy leaves, vines and tangled moss could becaging in the light. These flowers didn’t shine like a beacon; it wouldn’t be hard to contain their glow. Even if I was right on top of one, my indigo light would wash away the faded pink of the flower.
“Okay, new plan.” I stopped. “I’m going to turn off my lantern. You’ll need to direct me, okay? Maybe... get in front?”
“You can’t see at all? Like... not even enough to walk?”
I rounded on him, my temper flaring. Work topics so often blotted out reason, eclipsing my fear of him. “Is pretending to be stupid your natural high? No, I can’t see in the dark. You know this. Everyone knows this. Why do you think Granny got me this lantern?”
His power surged alongside his dissatisfaction at my insubordination. I was too frustrated with him and my situation to let it cull me. “She got it because it’s a faerie lantern and you have some huge bullshit love of faerie shit. Keep you happy, keep our clients happy. That’s why she got it.” He paused for a beat, staring me down. “And because you can’t see in the dark, yeah. But like... not atall,though? The moon is out tonight.”
“It’s barely a sliver!” I looked up at the dense canopy. Even if there was space up there between the reaching branches, the weak light from a sliver moon wouldn’t do much to help me. “I need your help. It’s why you’re here.”
He heaved a loud, exasperated sigh. “I see now why you don’t have a mate.”
“I’ve always seen why you don’t. Come on, hurry up. I really want to find one of those flowers tonight.” I reached out and took his arm, only to have him rip it away again. “Fine, move on your own. Justmove.”
“I hate this,” he grumbled, stepping over a fallen branch and shuffling in front of me. “I still want to fuck you, because you’re a nice slice of ass, but now I’ll cover your mouth when I do it.”
“Fantastic. Very charming. After I switch off the lantern, I do have to hold on to part of you for this to work, you know. Not your cock, either.”
“Do you think I’m crazy?” he asked, half looking over his shoulder.
I wasn’t quite sure what that was in relation to, since he’d been talking about cock-related topics since he’d first shown up on my doorstep, so I let it go.
“Just hold still,” I told him, tapping off my lantern. Darkness rushed in to envelop us both, and while I did see a few weak patches of light way up in the trees and the soft glowing orbs from the emberflies, I couldn’t see the ground or him in front of me.
“Here we go,” I said softly, hooking my lantern onto my pack as I heard a foot crunch onto the ground. Then another. “Wait, are you moving?”
“You said go!”
“Did you fail to notice that I was not holding onto your shirt?”
“I thought you changed your mind.” His boots crunched onto the ground again, coming back.
“You wonder how I go through life without seeing in the dark?” I reached forward, connecting with his shoulder. “How do you go through without a brain? I’m not the one people should be pitying.”
